We all know that education is expensive, but the incessant increase of school fees in the Phillipines is starting to get ridiculous.
In a recent study by the Kabataan Party-list, it was revealed that top private universities and colleges increased revenues and profits by as much as 81-percent.
Annual financial reports submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) show a steady profitability in the education sector. Some institutions doubled their profits in just a span of five years.
Even state universities and colleges (SUCs) increased their revenues. Data from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) showed that tuition fee collection increased by as much as 55-percent in five years, from PHP5.3 billion in 2010 to PHP8.1 billion in 2015.
In a report by ABS-CBN, Kabataan party-list Rep. Tony Ridon was quoted saying, “The incessant increase in the rates of tuition and other school fees is the result of the government’s extant policy of deregulation and commercialization of education. Aquino, and his alter ego in the Commission on Higher Education, Chairperson Licuanan, has allowed college education to become more unaffordable and inaccessible. ”
Student groups across the nation will hold a mass walkout from their classes on February 24 and March 11 to protest the increase in school fees next year.
